About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

East Link "Benefits"

Sound Transit’s
2008 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) promised voters East Link
would “Meet growing transit and mobility demands by increasing person-moving
capacity across Lake Washington on I-90 by up to 60 percent”. Light rail
on “the center roadway would have a peak hour capacity of up to 18,000 to
24,000 people per hour equivalent to between 6-10 freeway lanes of
traffic.” Thus it’s no wonder voters approved it.

If true, such
capacity might justify the loss of transit access from South Bellevue P&R
closure, the years of increased congestion on I-90, the disruption to those who
live or commute along the route, and even the disruption to downtown Bellevue
despite the $100M paid for a tunnel.

Unfortunately, the
DEIS promises were sheer fantasy. ST has “conceded” East Link will provide
one 4-car train every 8 minutes. If each 74-seat car can accommodate 148
riders (per PSRC) East Link will have the capacity for 4440 riders per hour per
direction (RPHPD). Even that capacity is not assured since the latest
information I have is that federal authorities have still not approved the ST
I-90 bridge design. (East Link is the first attempt to install light rail
on a “floating bridge” and there is concern as to whether the “expansive
joints” connecting the fixed and floating sections can withstand the loads from
light rail trains.)

When East Link
service begins, those riding buses on I-90 will be forced to transfer to and
from light rail trains at either the South Bellevue or Mercer Island light rail
stations for their commute into and out of Seattle. ST predicts 40,000
will do so daily. Assuming they’re divided equally, each station will be
inundated with 10,000 riders during morning and afternoon commutes dwarfing
what the stations are supposedly designed for.

It will take East
Link 4 ½ hours to accommodate the 20,000 commuters who transfer at the two
stations each morning. That doesn’t include those who get on prior to S
Bellevue. It also means Mercer Island residents and those transferring
there will have “difficulty” attempting to use transit at least during morning
peak commute hours. The
afternoon commutes will also be “problematic” since its unclear how and where
they will make connections to their respective buses.

Rather than
increasing person-moving capacity by 60% East Link will “likely” result in
thousands choosing to “drive” rather than “ride” exacerbating the outer roadway
congestion from closure of center roadway. East Link operation will be a
disaster for cross-lake commuters.

East Link
operation, despite ST promises to FTA and FHWA that “light rail noise will have
no impact on Mercer Slough Park” will end the park’s quiet solitude.
Noisy light rail trains operating into and out of a huge maintenance facility
for 20 hours a day will do nothing to add to Spring District “ambience”.

Contrary to claims
by East Link proponents, developers and others will likely be dissuaded by
noisy four 74-ton light rail cars trundling though Bel-Red every 4 minutes for
18 hours a day and with access limited to stations at 120th and 130th. .
While commuters there will have “first” access to light rail in the morning
they’ll “share” the same lack of capacity with other eastside commuters on the
return trip. Bel-Red residents would have far better transit service into
and out of Seattle with 520 BRT routes.

The “benefits” from
East Link operation go way beyond the east side.The entire area will get to “contribute” to the subsidies
required to cover the shortfall between the added operating expenses with the
extended route and the minimal additional fare box revenue (assuming they won't be asking the 40,000 transferees to pay twice) it will generate.

The only real
“beneficiaries” will be those involved in promoting, planning, designing, and
constructing East Link. Millions have already been spent promoting East
Link in the media with countless fliers and open houses extolling its benefits.
Millions more spent on consultants and planners leading up to the actual
construction of light rail tracks and light rail stations. However, these moneys likely pale in comparison to the
billions those doing the actual construction, presumably the Associated General
Contractors and their labor unions will benefit.

I’ll leave it up to others to determine
their influence on the approval process.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.